Petra Buckova

Petra Buckova

An actress with a wild temperament and a wide scale of facets - from crazy slapstick through irony and satire to the realms of tragedy. Having grown up in the South Bohemian town of Tabor and reaching the height of 174 centimetres (or 5 feet 8½ inches), she deemed that satisfactory and left home to pursue her calling. She was selected from many candidates to study acting at the Janacek Academy of Performing Arts (JAMU) the first year she applied, even though she could barely fit in the door back then. Over the course of the first semester, she lost 10 kilograms thanks to singing, acrobacy, ballet and karate, gradually morphing into the shape that we know nowadays.

Graduate of the PADI diving course, she is equally unafraid to dive into the depths of the characters she embodies. She starred in the mini-series Jitrni zare (Morning Glow) and the streaming thriller #martyisdead, which became the first-ever Czech series to win an International Emmy. She was also a notable presence as a supporting actress in numerous Czech TV series and films including Uzly a pomerance (Scent of Orange).

With stuntsmen she trains shooting in order to kill or pursue criminals in Czech crime series such as Hlava Meduzy (Head of Medusa), Vrazdy v kruhu (The Zodiac Murders), Polda (The Cop), Specialiste (Specialists) or Sefka (Boss), while also having enjoyed some bubbles of the soap opera Ordinace v ruzove zahrade (Surgery in the Rose Garden).

Living in Prague and married to an Austrian, she knows no communication barriers. She has mastered several languages and often puts them to use in international film and TV productions. She has utilised her English in Haunted (Netflix), Carnival Row (Amazon) or The Wheel of Time, with American filmmakers often casting her as Jewish heroines in the dark times of WWII. She acted in German in Decision Game (Amazon) and Home Is Here, her French was heard in Totems (Amazon).

Following her studies at JAMU, she went on to be an ensemble member of various high-profile theaters, such as the Petr Bezruc Theatre in Ostrava or the Goose on a String Theatre in Brno, before finally joining the Balustrade Theatre in Prague, the very theatre linked inseparably to Vaclav Havel. She is currently starring there as Marianne in Persony (Personas) based on the works of Ingmar Bergman, following notable classic roles which have included starring parts in Macbeth, Othello (performed in the English original) or The Cherry Orchard.

With utmost joy she often records audio books, being an avid lover of the microphone that won't forgive anything fake. Her voice can be heard in Lady Chatterley's Lover (D. H. Lawrence), Winesburg, Ohio (S. Anderson) or The Hours (M. Cunningham). She has been nominated twice for Neviditelný herec (Invisible Actor), the Czech radio acting award.

A femme fatale in the Eva Green style at first glance, Petra Buckova can also be quite a monster, swiftly becoming any role from a screaming child to a sleazy ravisher of innocent girls. Whatever wildness she has in her, she is also able to tame it whenever needed, having portrayed an uptight school teacher and other austere parts.

Her principal work method is empathy. She can tone into the frequency of others, which also allowed her to spend twelve years as part of the Czech team of hospital clowns, a work requiring an extensive sense of empathy.